Category Archives: Events

Post navigation

Saturday 24 January 20153:15 pm – 7:15 pm

Every week we hear about new hacks and bugs affecting individuals, companies or entire countries. Come spend an afternoon with us discussing the basics of how the Internet works, how its weaknesses are abused, and how individuals, developers, companies and governments can do their part to keep us safer online. Talks will be aimed at people with little or no IT background to introduce basic concepts of internet security, prompt discussion of recent news stories and recurring issues in online security and provide a foundation for future learning.

Topics introduced will include: Bad guys: who they are, what they want and how they get it. Security on public and private WiFi. Internet routing and website names (DNS). Introduction to cryptography. Website certificates. Email encryption. Signed messages and signed software.

The HacDC CryptoParty will cover topics aimed at helping you keep your data safe by learning how to use basic cryptography tools to protect the content of your data and — of particular interest because of recent revelations— to thwart common forms of surveillance.

Like most of us, your life is probably pretty normal and of course you have nothing to hide. You may even think that allowing the government to read citizens’ email is the price we all have to pay for security.

But what if increased surveillance actually doesn’t keep us safer? What if the mere specter of surveillance suppresses your free expression? And what if you do have something that you want to keep private — for instance your sexual orientation, health status, political views, or that you’ve decided to stop practicing your religion?

Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom. —Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo

Participants will be asked to advance solutions to issues that were near to Aaron’s heart.

Activities for the day will center on furthering work on his repositories, opening access to information belonging in the public domain, developing or contributing to countermeasures to Internet censorship, and exploring code-driven methods to enhance social justice through access to data.

Those wanting to arrive after 2pm should make note of our telephone number, 202-556-4225, to gain entry as the building will be locked. More location information on our homepage’s sidebar.

Participants are encouraged to bring food and drink and practice good neighborliness. There are a variety of carry out options available around Columbia Heights though some may suit individuals more than others. There may be a group purchase at some point(s) but nothing has been set as of this writing. We’ll update this post as needed.

Related: An event taking place on Capitol Hill, on Monday, 2/4/13, at 7pm, this event memorializes Aaron Swartz and seeks to raise awareness about the urgent changes that are needed in the CFAA. These changes are part of Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s draft “Aaron’s Law” (PDF here).

The Raspberry Pi Foundation presents the Raspberry Pi – an ARM GNU Linux development board for $25:
Talk:
RaspberryPi: Past, Present & Future – An introduction to the RaspberryPi, including an overview of its history and development, details on the technical specification and an outline of future developments with many cool tech demos along the way. Followed by a Q&A session.

Tech Demos:
A chance to demonstrate various OS’s, new revisions of the Pi and the latest add-on expansion hardware.

Workshop:
A Taste of RaspberryPi – A chance to play with the RaspberryPi hands-on.

Show & Tell / Prizes:
An opportunity to display RaspberryPi projects from the community with prizes for notable projects.

Approach on the 16th St side of the building. Look for the red doors. We are on the third floor. Follow the signs to our space after signing in with the guard. Before visiting unannounced, call to see if anyone is at the space.Phone: 202-556-4225 (HACK)